The Urbanworld Film Festival, founded in 1997 by Stacy Spikes, is one of the largest internationally competitive festivals of its kind. Each year, we curate a slate of films representing the broadest lens of diversity across stories, characters, themes, and cultures. We fight tirelessly to expand the definition of “urban” beyond ethnicity to include sensibility, culture, and proximity. We strive to be “the filmmakers festival” and “the people’s festival,” providing a point of intersection where creators and audiences meet to experience bold and diverse artistic works. We welcome you to the Urbanworld family!

Urbanworld is a five-day festival, anchored in film, showcasing narrative and documentary features, short films, spotlight screenings and conversations, and live staged screenplay readings. The festival’s Urbanworld Digital track convenes industry experts sharing insights on the evolving landscape of content creation, financing, distribution, and marketing, all through the lens of digital opportunity. Urbanworld Music rounds out the festival, powering the nightlight events with a mix of curated DJs and live performances.

The Urbanworld spirit transcends the festival with ongoing connectivity to creators and collaborators throughout the year. Newly launched, urbanworld INDEPENDENT offers a content driven industry resource, allowing our global audience the opportunity to share insights and experiences, covering creative, business, and technical vantage points. Our goal is to inspire and expose the cross-cultural community of makers and innovators redefining our “urban” world.

Be the first to watch @NightSchoolMovie Starring @TiffanyHaddish and @KevinHart.

AAFCA: 15 Years of Progress

The African American Film Critics Assn. is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year.

It all began in 2003 when Gil Robertson and fellow co-founder Shawn Edwards came up with the idea to open doors for black entertainment journalists who wanted to pursue careers as film critics The two acted upon their vision to build a legacy and create an institution that, in Robertson’s words, “will continue to provide opportunities for journalists, filmmakers and content creators for generations to come.”

“The world is not made up of one type of person,” Robertson adds, explaining the importance of having more diverse and inclusive opinions in Hollywood. “Film is a very powerful medium. It’s how people define themselves. It’s how individuals define one another, and it [has] had a lasting impact [on society] since its creation. So, it’s really important that there be a multitude of voices that are a part of that discussion of the images and stories we see [and] what they mean.”

You’re invited to join NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) with presenting partners NALIP and SAG-AFTRA on Saturday, September 8th, 2018 for the annual NFMLA Film Festival InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema event. The event will be hosted at The Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

The festival presents a powerful lineup of local and international films by world-class emerging filmmakers from Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Spain, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Argentina and the United States across three short film programs. The talented filmmakers include multiple-award-winning directors, writers and producers whose films have been programmed and awarded across Europe, South America and in the United States, including at SXSW and Sundance.

Doors will open to the public at 4PM with a pre-reception for the first shorts program, and the night will include a pre-reception before each of the evening’s programs, where attendees can sip cocktails and mingle with industry professionals and festival selected filmmakers in the lounge. The event will conclude at 11:30PM.

Tickets are available for $5 per program advanced purchase / $7 per program at the door and $15 for all-night access passes, which provide access to all three film programs with open bar throughout the entire event. NFMLA’s Monthly Film Festivals are presented throughout the year with support from Executive Circle Sponsors FilmLA, The Coca-Cola Company and HBO, Producers Circle Sponsors SAG-AFTRA, 21st Century Fox Global Inclusion, Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA | Golden Globes), LA County Arts Commission and LA City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA).

AT&T’s newly branded WarnerMedia, which encompasses Warner Bros, Turner and HBO, has taken the wraps off a a companywide policy outlining its commitment to diversity and inclusion both in front and behind the camera on its film, TV and digital output.

The first project to fall under the new guidelines announced today isJust Mercy, Warner Bros’ Destin Daniel Cretton-directed pic starring Michael B. Jordan, which begins production this week in Atlanta. Jordan, an executive producer on the film, and his WME agent Phillip Sun helped WarnerMedia to launch the policy.

“WarnerMedia pledges to use our best efforts to ensure that diverse actors and crew members are considered for film, television and other projects, and to work with directors and producers who also seek to promote greater diversity and inclusion in our industry,” the policy reads in part (read it in full below). “To that end, in the early stages of the production process, we will engage with our writers, producers and directors to create a plan for implementing this commitment to diversity and inclusion on our projects, with the goal of providing opportunities for individuals from under-represented groups at all levels.”